#teachingisfun

This guest blog post was written by Phil Wade, who has worked in education as a teacher, teacher trainer, and examiner for over 25 years. He is currently an English coordinator at the University of Reunion in France. Phil’s blog post is for English teachers who are thinking about teaching at a university in France. 

What kind of education one must have

To get a permanent job in a French university you need at least an MA. Also, you must have passed one of their national competitive teaching exams. For basic level teachers it is CAPES. For higher levels, it is Agrégé (a competitive academic rank awarded by a French university, granting appointment to the highest teaching post in a lycée or university faculties.). A Ph.D. is required for higher-level professor jobs. It is quite complicated for foreigners so always read all the information regarding any job you apply for. If you have an English or American Ph.D. or teaching qualification, check that it is acceptable in France. Some are not. This is why several Ph.D. tutors advise candidates interested in teaching in France to do a Ph.D. in France. There are English teachers in French universities who had to do more qualifications in France to get into their system. 

For part-time teaching vacancies, French universities hire “vacataires” (temporary workers). They should have a related MA to the course they are applying to teach. Generally, a degree in English literature is the most common. However, some specialist departments like Science may prefer a degree in that field. A teaching qualification (preferable), and teaching experience are also valued. 

Temporary workers can only teach below 200 hours a year. It is VERY important to note that these teachers must either already have a full-time job or have been registered as freelancers in France for 3+ years. Ph.D. students who are enrolled at the university can also apply to teach less than 100 hours a year. They must have a current university identity card to apply. Retired people below 70 can also apply. These jobs involve teaching courses that the permanent staff can’t teach due to their workload.

Is the CELTA required?

It is not recognized as a teaching certificate in universities from what I know as it is not equivalent to their CAPES or Agrégé. As these are very unique you could say that nothing is comparable. In contrast, language schools are independent so they may ask it. Recruiters in university English departments or teams may value it.

Best ways to look for a job

For permanent posts, universities advertise their jobs on their university websites on the HR or recruitment page. They give you full details of the posts but you must ensure you match all the criteria, which is important. These are also normally on an official internal website for existing teachers in the French system to use. 

For part-time hours, they may do a call for part-time teachers via their social media channels and/or on their website. A lot of these teachers are hired after contacting the beads of departments. Thus, if you find a department you would like to teach for, it doesn’t hurt to find the person who does recruitment and email them your CV. Note that these people change every year or 2/3, staff retire, go on parental leave, go abroad to teach, or just get sick. Therefore, keep track of who is in charge and you could always contact a teacher in the department too.

French culture

Of course, there are cultural differences across France and even among universities and even departments but here I will mention some general things I have noticed:

Work/life balance

I have taught in some departments where we worked 6 days and also finished late. Some started early at 7 but had lessons spread out throughout the day. Teaching across different campuses is also common. I am often quite amazed by how hard French university teachers work. You may see them arrive early and leave late, well after their lessons are finished, or even when they are not teaching. They even have online meetings scheduled for 6 or 7 pm. They solve urgent issues via email in the evenings and on weekends too.

They spend some of their holidays traveling, attending events, and writing up research. I have been lucky to have worked with some very professional teachers, course heads, etc who have been available 24/7 if needed. That is why taking on course management or head of department roles comes with a lot of responsibility. Yes, you may have read that French people only work 35/7 hours a week but some teachers work much more and don’t actually get much official holiday. During that time they can also be making courses, planning lessons, etc.

Dress Code

There is no real dress code but each department, in my experience, has a style so follow it or dress more formal. I have seen teachers wear suits while others have worn trainers and jeans. If in doubt, ask.

Meetings

There can be quite a lot of meetings and related events with high-level professors. In fact, at least 1/3 of their job can involve this. It seems very difficult to organize them as everyone has differing schedules so some people attend via Zoom. In theory, you should be on time but people are busy, there is traffic, previous meetings run over, etc. Also, people are just unavailable or may have to leave early for other commitments. Therefore, it is vital to explain this before so as not to look unprofessional.

I have noticed some meetings can be quite long and just stop with no final decision is made. As someone who likes short productive meetings, it was a shock early on. I think you are supposed to get involved and discuss things a lot. Personally l like to decide things via email but not everyone does so find out which method works for your team.

Continuous professional development

There are many options for teachers depending on their status. For freelance teachers, they pay a monthly training fee and then can apply for funded training via the FIF PL training fund. Full-time and permanent staff accrue a set number of training hours per year and can sign up for funded courses to be taken in their free time with the CPF fund. Universities also organize a variety of internal training sessions and courses and staff can apply for the Erasmus Plus initiative to train abroad.

Technical aspects in the classrooms

Most classrooms I have seen have been equipped with projectors but always check if  Wi-Fi and your devices work. For example, I discovered my MacBookPro was not compatible with long HDMI cables in most of our classrooms. An iPad tends to be a very good device for teaching especially with an Apple pencil as you can write on PDFs. Also investigate and use any interactive whiteboards or computer labs, audiovisual centers, mini theaters, etc. Use whatever tools you have access to.

I think it is vital that you have good unlimited internet on your phone and a good network. Why? So you can use your own hotspot if your university one doesn’t work. Also, make sure you have adapters and cables and enough time between lessons to log off and unplug. Then factor in more time for moving the room and setting up again. Thus an iPad or fast MacBook Air is good. If your room doesn’t have a projector ask the receptionist if you can reserve one then you will have to collect it, set that up too, and return it.

Creating resources for lessons

Always ask if there is a course in any form that you can or should use. Some departments may already have created a pack of handouts or online PDFs or even have set up a Moodle course for you to use. Others may give teachers objectives and guidance to create their courses. In that case, see if you can speak to the previous teacher for help. If you co-teach the course make sure you coordinate with the other teacher or teachers for standardization. In the worst-case scenario, you can use the resources you have or even buy new ones for the topic. I spend at least 100 euros a year on new resources for my courses. Public universities are free for locals so budgets are almost zero.

English exams at universities

We now have four tests each year i.e. one reading, one listening, one speaking, and one writing. They are separated into 2 per term. So this term it could be reading and speaking and next term listening and writing.

Exams must be 1-2 hours long in class, not online. We also have to mark them before a set deadline. This is one reason we are often asked to start teaching early. If you start late you might only have a few days or a week to grade all your exams. If the exam is at the end of the course. For mid-term exams, it is best to grade them before the next lesson to give lots of feedback. Then adapt the remaining lessons based on the results of the exam as a formative test.

The form of the tests varies from general to detailed reading and listening tasks to oral presentations, discussions, and debates as well as writing essays, business correspondence describing graphs, and writing reports. Then we have more creative mixed-skill tests, pair and group projects, CV writing tasks, job interviews, etc. Regarding question types, we should not use many multiple-choice question types as they are too easy. With AI everywhere now we have had to rethink projects done out of class too. I think embracing AI is a good idea to improve learning.

Do teachers have to design the tests?

For us, teachers must make every test for each group they teach. I provide them all with test design guides and proofread drafts. Also, I encourage teachers to help others in their team and to coordinate to ensure they all have similar tests. I know other departments that make one test for all the students on that course and they do the exam in a lecture theater. For projects, we use the same structure every year but students have a fair bit of flexibility. In contrast, as we use the CEFR levels for grading, we are not as flexible.

Big classes

Classes can be from 10-50 students in a normal room or 50+ in a lecture room. There is a high level of failure and many students quit so some departments begin with 700 students and end up with 30. As we also have new arrivals and transfer students, students on sick leave, and students who officially don’t need to attend, the actual students in the class can vary.

If you teach in lecture rooms, just set out the room so you can access everyone. Make sure that students are in good places with students who want to work. You should make eye contact with everyone. Try to involve everyone, give feedback to everyone, and adapt elicitation and repetition, etc. to the size. Don’t get every student to answer every exercise. Get 5 to offer one for exercise 1 then another 5 for exercise 2 etc. Also, use a shared document or a Moodle Forum or Chat to get written work and offer feedback via the screen.

Mixed-level classes

Levels can vary from A1 to C1 or C2. You might have bilinguals with English dads or German Erasmus students but also young people from the Comoros islands. The levels of previous education can also vary depending on the standing of their high school and the type it was. For instance, students who do literature or languages should arrive at a good level and be quite academic. Others may have spent 2 years preparing for competitive exams but failed then came to your department. Another route might be they tried various degrees but failed each one and now do yours. As France does not recognize all foreign qualifications, I have had BA/MA graduates restart from scratch.

Vacations

Our uni only closes twice a year for summer and winter. So we have long terms. I have worked at universities where terms start early and have intensive lessons that finish early so teachers have had more free time for admin.

With this kind of system, it is hard to take days off. In universities that spread courses out you can have days off or a week and make it up. As long as you teach your classes and finish in time for the deadlines it seems to be OK. 

Teachers are respected and if they have a good relationship with course heads and the pedagogical and administrative staff they can make scheduling changes quite easily. This is why I always advise new teachers to get to know all the staff so the system can function. 

Salaries

The permanent teachers have a grade depending on their official status, and years of experience. As they work up they get more pay. Some can do a limited number of extra hours. Different areas of France also pay differently it seems so you have to check this before applying. Have a look at the “Teacher Salary Scale: 2023-2024 scale” article.

For part-time teachers, it is about 40 euros an hour before tax, from what I know and universities should pay this twice a year I think.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I advise teachers to research everything and secure jobs before relocating. Do not turn up expecting to get a full-time job. If you expect part-time hours and you don’t have any other work then it is impossible. The vast majority of TEFL teachers struggle then eventually do the CAPES and are sent to another city to teach. They then spend years applying to schools, universities, and departments they want to be in. 

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This post was written by Phil Wade:

“I have worked in education as a teacher, teacher trainer, examiner, materials developer, eLearning creator, test designer, and coach for over 25 years. I am currently an English coordinator at the University of Reunion in France and manage L1-M2 ESP courses, EMI provision, a summer school and I recruit and support teachers. A lot of the latter involves making sure they have the right information about how the university works, what the courses and tests are, how things are organized, how to prepare lessons and design tests, how to mark tests, and also about teaching. Below are some of my tips to help new university teachers get to grips with the context so they can hit the ground running.”